Page 221 - Chinese and japanese porcelain silk and lacquer Canepa

potted blue-and-white wine cup decorated with a band of flame and scrolls excavated
from Minnories, London EC3, relates closely to finds from two VOC shipwrecks,
the Witte Leeuw (1613) and Banda (1615), discussed earlier (Figs. 3.2.1.11 and
3.2.1.10, respectively). 580
Porcelain has also been excavated in towns in the South West of England. Shards
of Kraak and Kinrande porcelain were found among a large group of ceramic and glass
household objects, dating to c.1600, in a garderobe pit (pit 314) in Queen Street,
Plymouth. In addition, 20 shards of blue-and-white porcelain were excavated along
581
other imported ceramics from a site at the centre of old Plymouth, known as Kitto
Institute. They appear to have formed part of a Kraak saucer dish, two blue-and-
582
white bowls (one with reticulated decoration) and two blue-and-white plates. This
583
porcelain may have come from the Spanish royal ship San Felipe taken to Plymouth
in 1587 after Sir Francis Drake captured her in the Azores carrying a cargo of 1,800
pounds of porcelain on board. Porcelain was also on board La Trinidad Valencera,
584
a large Venetian merchant ship requisitioned by Spain that wrecked during a storm
off Donegal, northwestern coast of Ireland, when the Spanish Armada attempted to
conquer England the following year, in 1588. Two rim shards of a blue-and-white Fig. 3.2.2.19 Blue-and-white bowl from the
585
shipwreck La Trinidad Valencera (1588)
plate decorated with auspicious symbols tied with ribbons along an intact crudely Jingdezhen kilns, Jiangxi province
potted Jingdezhen blue-and-white bowl with sketchily painted horses flying among ruyi Ming dynasty, Wanli reign (1573–1620)
Diameter: 15.2cm
clouds were recovered from the shipwreck (Fig. 3.2.2.19) (Appendix 3). Plymouth,
586
Ulster Museum, Belfast
as noted earlier, was the port of departure for ships of the Virginia Company (hereafter
referred to as VC), formed with a charter from James I in 1606, which crossed the Fig. 3.2.2.20 Shard of a Kraak plate and pottery
excavated at Berry Pomeroy Castle, south Devon
Atlantic with settlers and supplies for the English colonies in Virginia. Jingdezhen kilns, Jiangxi province
Several finds have been made in Devon. Shards of a few Kraak and other blue- Fig. 3.2.2.16 Fragment of a Kraak Ming dynasty, Wanli reign (1573–1620)
and-white porcelain plates, saucer-dishes and a bowl, along other imported ceramics, bowl excavated at Narrow Street, © David Garner. English Heritage (M940025)
were found during excavation at the ruins of Berry Pomeroy Castle, near the village of Limehouse, London
Jingdezhen kilns, Jiangxi province
Berry Pomeroy in south Devon (Fig. 3.2.2.20). The porcelain was dated to c.1565– Ming dynasty, Tianqi/Chongzhen reign in honour of John G. Hurst, Oxbow Books, Oxford, documented as early as 1596. An Exeter inventory of November of that year mentions
587
1585, but it could have been made slightly later, in the 1580s–1590s. It is likely (1621–1644) 1992, p. 230 and p. 234, table 1. that the apothecary Thomas Baskerville left ‘6 Carracke’ dishes with two stone jugs
588
© Chris Jarret 583 Ibid., p. 231, pl. 1.
that the porcelain was acquired when the house was enlarged and transformed into ‘a 584 J. P. Allan (ed.), ‘Medieval and Post-Medieval Finds and one dozen of cheese trenchers in his cellar, valued at a total of 5s (Fig. 3.2.2.24). 592
from Exeter, 1971–1980’, Exeter Archaeological
very stately house’ by Lord Seymour’s son, Edward Seymour II (c.1563–1613), who Fig. 3.2.2.17 Fragment of a Zhangzhou Reports, Exeter, 1984, Vol. 3, p. 106. Mentioned in Baskerville owned a remarkable range of oriental products, including benzoin, China
saucer dish excavated at Narrow Street, Pomper, 2014, p. 82.
inherited Berry Pomeroy Castle in 1593. Other porcelain finds in south Devon, Limehouse, London 585 For information on the shipwreck, see Colin J. M. root, camphor, rhubarb and musk. An inventory taken in 1597, lists three ‘China
593
589
include blue-and-white shards of a Wanli saucer-dish dating to c.1600 excavated at 39 Zhangzhou kilns, Fujian province Martin, ‘La Trinidad Valencera: an Armada invasion dishes’, valued at 3s, in the buttery of Walter Horsey; and another taken in April
Fore Street, Totnes. Ming dynasty, Tianqi/Chongzhen reign transport lost off Donegal. Interim site report, of the following year lists ‘9 carricke dishes’, valued at 5s, left by John Anthonye
590
1971–76’, The International Journal of Nautical
(1621–1644)
Fragments of a few Kraak and other blue-and-white porcelain pieces, also dating © Chris Jarret Archaeology and Underwater Exploration, Vol. 8, in his ‘lyttell chamber’ (Fig. 3.2.2.25). The estates left by Horsey and Anthonye
594
Issue 1 (1979), pp. 13–38; and David Atherton, La
to c.1600, have been excavated in Exeter. The site of 38 North Street yielded fragments Trinidad Valencera, Derry-Londonderry, 2013. valued at over £2,000, demonstrate that they were both very rich merchants. The
595

Fig. 3.2.2.18 Fragment of a Kraak plate 586 According to research by Martin, porcelain was only
of a finely potted Kraak plate decorated with a landscape scene within a rim panelled excavated at Paternoster Square, London found on La Trinidad Valencera, not on the other 1596 inventory is of particular importance because it provides the earliest written
border of flower and peach sprays, and of a small saucer dish with a bird on a rock Jingdezhen kilns, Jiangxi province Spanish Armada shipwrecks so far discovered, reference known thus far of the use of the term ‘Carracke’ to refer to dishes, which in
the Girona, Santa Maria de la Rosa and San Juan
Ming dynasty, Wanli/Tianqi reign (1573–1627)
within a border of tear-drop medallions with peach sprays (Fig. 3.2.2.21 and 3.2.2.22). Museum of London Archaeology, London de Sicilia. Images of the shards are published in all probability were made of Kraak porcelain. The fact that the inventory taken two
The porcelain was found along other imported ceramic and glass objects dating to Colin J. M. Martin, ‘Spanish Armada pottery’, The years later, in 1598, mentions again ‘carricke dishes’ proves that it was a commonly
International Journal of Nautical Archaeology
c.1680, which represent a large assemblage even for a wealthy merchant’s household. 580 The cup fragment is now housed in the Museum and Underwater Exploration, Vol. 8, Issue 4 (1979), used term in northern Europe, in England as early as the last decade of the sixteenth
Fig. 13, nos. 98.TV and 99.TV; and Fig. 14 (sketch-
The ceramic assemblage of c.1660 found in another cesspit located in Trichay Street, of London (MIO 86:1010). Published in Rose Kerr, drawing). For images of the bowl, see Laurence century and in the Dutch Republic, as mentioned earlier, as early as the third decade
Pillip Allen and Jean Martin, The World in Blue and Flanagan, Ireland’s Armada Legacy, Dublin, 1988, p.
which appears to represent the clearance of a household, includes a Kraak plate and a White. An exhibition of Blue and White ceramics, 137, no. 9.70. of the seventeenth century. Furthermore, this proves that the Dutch term kraken is not
bowl, a blue-and-white saucer dish decorated with spotted deer (Fig. 3.2.2.23), and dating between 1320 and 1820, from members of the 587 For a full report of the archaeological excavation, derived from a type of wall-shelf used for displaying blue-and-white porcelain in the
Oriental Ceramic Society, exhibition catalogue, The
see S. Brown (ed.), ‘Berry Pomeroy Castle’, Devon
a tiny finely potted wine cup decorated with a band of flame and scrolls, all dating Oriental Ceramic Society, London, 2003, p. 47, fig. 8. Archaeological Society, Proceedings No. 54, 1996. Dutch town of Friesland.
596
581 I am grateful to John P. Allan for providing me 588 Ibid., pp. 220–222, pl. 79.
to the late sixteenth century. The aforementioned wine cup relates to the fragment with images of the porcelain recovered for 589 The Castle was built by the Pomeroy family in the It is clear that the possession of porcelain in Exeter at the time, even among the
591
research purposes.
excavated in London, as well as to finds from the VOC shipwrecks Witte Leeuw (1613) 582 John Allan and James Barber, ‘A seventeenth-century late fifteenth century, and was bought in 1547 by wealthy residents, was limited to only a few pieces. Allan has noted that the earliest
the wealthy and powerful Edward Seymour, Duke
and Banda (1615) (Figs. 3.2.1.11 and 3.2.1.10). pottery group from Kitto Institute, Plymouth’, in of Somerset (c.1500–1552), brother of Henry VIII’s documentary evidence of sizable quantities of porcelain owned by an Exeter resident
David Gaimster and Mark Redknap (eds.), Everyday third and favourite queen, Jane Seymour. That same
As has been shown by Allan, the presence of pieces of porcelain in Exeter is and Exotic Pottery from Europe c. 650–1900. Studies year, Edward Seymour became ‘Lord Protector’ of dates to 1603. The inventory taken this year after the death of Richard Bevys, Lord
220 Silk, Porcelain and Lacquer Trade in Chinese Porcelain 221